Cannot establish a wireless connection

Important:Some of the settings described here are only displayed if the advanced view is enabled in the user interface. The configuration procedure and notes on functions given in this guide refer to the latest FRITZ!OS.

Simply proceed as described below. After each measure, check whether the issue persists.

1 The wireless network cannot be found

If the FRITZ!Box's wireless network is not found, proceed as described in this guide.

Here is how to check whether the wireless network can be found:

Windows 10

Click "Settings" in the Windows start menu.

Click "Network and Internet" and then "Wi-Fi" in the "Settings" menu.

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

Windows 8

Press the keyboard shortcut "Windows key" + "C".

The Windows sidebar now opens.

Click "Settings" and then the wireless icon in the Windows sidebar.

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

Windows 7

Click the wireless icon in the notification area of the Windows taskbar (Systray).

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

Apple OS X

Click the wireless icon in the upper corner of your screen in the menu bar (see figure).

Fig.: No connection to a wireless network

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch)

Tap "Settings" on the home screen.

Tap "Wi-Fi" in the "Settings" menu.

If wireless LAN is turned off, tap the "On / Off" icon.

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

Android (for example Google Nexus, Samsung Galaxy)

Tap the "Settings" icon on the home screen of the Android device.

Tap "Wi-Fi" in the "Settings" menu.

If wireless LAN is turned off, tap the "OFF" icon next to the "Wi-Fi" option to enable wireless LAN.

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

Other operating systems or wireless devices (such as network printers, game consoles)

Use your wireless device to search for wireless networks in the vicinity.

Check whether the name of the wireless network (SSID) of your FRITZ!Box is displayed in the list of available connections.

2 Installing the latest software for the wireless device

Install the latest driver for your computer's wireless network adapter or the latest operating system (for example Android, iOS) for the wireless device.

Note:You can find information on updating the wireless network adapter or wireless device in its manual, or consult the manufacturer directly.You can find the latest drivers for the FRITZ!WLAN Sticks in our download area.

3 Optimizing the FRITZ!Box's wireless settings

Optimize the FRITZ!Box's wireless settings in order to guarantee favorable conditions for setting up the wireless connection.

The following steps are only necessary if the wireless device does not support configuring wireless connections at the touch of a button (WPS PBC - Push Button Configuration) and you therefore have to configure the wireless connection manually:

Note:WPS is supported by computers with Windows 7 that have current Intel wireless network adapters, many media players, and wireless music systems, for example. You can find information on whether your wireless device supports WPS in its manual, or consult the manufacturer directly.

Preparations

Use a network cable to connect a computer to the "LAN 2" port on the FRITZ!Box.

Briefly disabling the MAC address filter

When the MAC address filter is enabled, new wireless devices that are unknown to the FRITZ!Box cannot connect to the FRITZ!Box. Therefore, make sure that the MAC address filter is disabled:

Changing the name of the wireless network (SSID)

If there are other wireless networks with the same name in the vicinity, wireless devices may automatically attempt to connect to the wrong wireless network. To avoid this, give your FRITZ!Box a unique name:

Enter a name of your choice that does not contain special characters in the field "Name of the wireless radio network (SSID)".

Important:Not all wireless devices support all special characters. Therefore, only use standard Latin letters (not letters such as ä, ë, ö, ü, á, é, í) and numbers in the wireless network name.

Click "Apply" to save your settings.

When you apply the new wireless network name, all wireless connections to the FRITZ!Box are cleared. You must then reconfigure wireless connections to the FRITZ!Box.

4 Reconfiguring the wireless connection

In order to rule out incorrect configuration of the wireless device as a cause, delete the wireless connections to the FRITZ!Box that are already configured in the wireless device and then reconfigure them:

Windows 10

Click "Settings" in the Windows start menu.

Click "Network & Internet" in the "Settings" menu.

Click "Wi-Fi" and then "Manage Wi-Fi settings".

Click on the connection that displays the wireless network name (SSID) of the FRITZ!Box in the "Manage known networks" section and then click "Forget".